


Don't Doubt Your Lionheart

by drunkenfucker



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Buckle up, Equestrian, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, and it's probably gonna be a veeeeeery slow burn, but he's gonna be an ass so dont worry, mon-el is there as mike matthews and lena's fiance, show jumping, you're in for a ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:13:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27600077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkenfucker/pseuds/drunkenfucker
Summary: Kara Danvers, a rising star in the show jumping community, goes to work for Luthor Stables. There she meets the famous talent, Lena Luthor, who suddenly disappeared from the public eye with no warning. From there it's all sparks and confetti, or?
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Querl Dox/Nia Nal
Comments: 12
Kudos: 51





	Don't Doubt Your Lionheart

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language. I'm gonna be a very happy lass if you spot any mistakes in grammar and/or spelling and let me know so that I can learn and become better. Apart from that... Horse story + Supergirl. Why you say? I want to write something sport related too, and the only sport I know is show jumping. Let's see how frequent I can update this one. My guess is a new chapter once a year maybe? Let's place some bets and get to the story.

“I can’t believe you’re starting to work for Luthor Stables, Kara!”

Alex turned her car up the driveway towards the massive buildings. Kara fidgeted in her seat and didn’t answer her statement.

“They are literally the enemy,” Alex said as they made their way closer to their destination.

You could say whatever you wanted about Luthor Stables, but there was no denying that their stables and surrounding buildings were impressive. On their way up the driveway they had already passed enormous pastures with shiny horses grazing peacefully beside each other.

“Come on, Alex. They can’t be that bad. Besides, they have some real promising young talents in their stables now. This is an amazing opportunity for me to get further and hopefully gain some sponsors along the way.”

Kara hadn’t thought twice when she got offered the position as a rider for Luthor Stables. She knew their trainer, Cat Grant, was one of the best in the country. She would get to train with her own horse, as well as getting more experience with riding the younger ones they had available.

No, Kara didn’t have a doubt in her mind that this chance would be the one that would eventually get her to the Olympics. Of course, she had heard what people had to say about Lillian Luthor and how she ran the business. But from what Kara understood, Lillian had taken a step back and didn’t have much to do with the day-to-day running of the place.

“Fair enough. But don’t come crying to me when Lillian has given you a hard time and you miss working alongside the genius that is your dear sister.”

Alex gave her a small smile. She was half joking, and of course Kara knew this. But Alex had always been the one to look out for Kara, even if Kara had time and again proven that she could take the harsh treatment from owners and trainers. It was time for Kara to fly on her own, and even Alex realized she had to loosen the reins on her sister if she was going to go the places she wanted to.

That didn’t stop her from worrying about her. When Kara had told her she got the job at Luthor Stables, Alex hadn’t been convinced it was in her best interest at first. Surely, it would get her far, but Kara was such a good-natured person filled with a natural light. She was just worried her light would dim along the way.

“We’re here.”

Kara found herself not wanting to prolong the goodbye. She opened her door and stepped out of the car. A young woman immediately made her way towards them, waving excitedly.

“Hi, and welcome to Luthor Stables! I am Nia-Nal. Call me Nia,” the woman said and took Kara’s hand to shake it.

“Nice to meet you Nia. I am Kara Danvers and this is my sister Alex–“

Kara didn’t get to draw her breath before Nia started talking again. She was clearly eager to meet new people.

“Of course! I have heard so much about you. And seen you at shows, of course. We haven’t stopped talking about you around here since we got word of your employment. You should hear Winn when he talks about you. I think you might have an admirer in him,” she said as she threw her head in the direction of one of the stable buildings. Kara assumed that was where Winn were to be found.

“I’ll introduce you to everyone after I have given you the tour of the place. But first, let’s get your diamond there in one of the smaller paddocks.”

Alex had unloaded Zora whilst Kara was talking with Nia, and now the beautiful horse stood with her head held high, taking in her surroundings with flared nostrils. She wasn’t the biggest horse, but she had a heart of gold and did anything Kara asked of her. Her coat shone like amber in the sunlight and she threw her head while stomping her foot in the ground, as if she knew she had an audience.

“You really are a sight for sore eyes, aren’t you?” Nia made her way up to Zora with her hand in front of her. The horse sniffed her hand before blowing air in a low snort.

“I think she likes me. I’ll have one of the guys put your tack and equipment away while we are taking the tour. Just follow me and we’ll find her a nice spot.”

Alex stood with Zora’s lead rope in hand, offering it towards Kara who gladly took it. She started walking after Nia towards a row of smaller paddocks they had in the back of the stables.

Nia fumbled with something Kara soon realized had to be a walkie-talkie. She turned towards Alex and gave her a wide-eyed look while mouthing “Walkie-talkies?!”

Alex chuckled and shook her head. Apparently, she was in for the tour, and she didn’t resist the idea. If nothing else, it would be the perfect opportunity to gain some insight on the enemy.

They made it to one of the paddocks on the end and let Zora go. She immediately sped off to check out the area. After running around for a short while, she ended on lying down and going for a well-deserved roll.

Kara sighed and studied her treasured baby.

“Always out to make me work extra hard wherever possible, aren’t you Zora?”

Nia laughed at this and gestured for them to continue their tour of the place.

\-----

Alex was wise enough to keep her sarcastic comments about the Luthors and their business to a bare minimum. Kara knew Alex would never admit it, but she was obviously just as impressed by the place as Kara was.

“I knew the Luthors were loaded, but this is taking the cake,” Alex said when Nia showed them the pool for rehabilitating injured horses and keeping youngsters in training without putting too much stress on their joints and ligaments.

“Yeah, they really know how to treat their horses like the top-notch athletes they are here,” Nia agreed.

Kara was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place. She had a feeling she would most definitely get lost a fair amount of times here.

“Do you wanna go with us to see the horses too, Alex?” Nia asked when they were finished with the buildings and surrounding areas.

“I wish I could, but I should really get back to my own stables before anything gets out of hand over there,” Alex said with an apologetic grin on her face.

“Oh, that’s right. You’re working over at the Rojas stables?”

“Yeah. Andrea likes keeping us at our toes at all times, but she’s a fair boss who gets the job done.”

Nia nodded as she gestured towards the main building at the place.

“The same goes for our boss. Well, at least the keeping us at our toes at all times part. Lillian used to be a bit of a dragon to work for, but she has given most of the responsibilities here to her daughter. And we don’t see much of her around here anymore anyway. I guess she’s too busy making out with her fiancé.”

Nia just kept on talking, not minding that this might be a bit much information to share with an employee of a rivalling stable. Kara opened her mouth as if to stop her for sharing anything else, but her curiosity got the best of her. It wasn’t like she wasn’t going to share this information with Alex later on anyway.

“You mean Lena Luthor? The dressage talent who suddenly disappeared from the public eye without an explanation? The one who was on her way to big things, then out of the blue – nothing? She’s enganged? To whom?”

Kara had heard about Lena Luthor. Everyone had at one point. At least everyone in the equestrian community. No matter if you were in dressage or show jumping – Lena Luthor was a rising star. That was why it had come as a big surprise when she suddenly had stopped competing. Not even at small shows at home. From the outsider’s point of view, it looked like the youngest Luthor had put riding on the shelf overnight without looking back.

“His name is Mike Matthews. I don’t know much about him, only that his family is filthy rich and has no clue about horses. He has taken it upon himself to steer this place,” Nia let out a frustrated sigh before she went on.

“I don’t know… There’s something going on in that big mansion up there, but as long as I get paid and the horses here are happy and healthy, I’ll keep my mouth shut for now.”

Alex looked as if she wanted to ask her more questions, but Kara gave her a warning shake of her head. ‘Not now’ she mouthed to her sister. The chance to learn more about the situation would come later. Right now, Kara was eager to meet her co-workers, both horses and people.

“Alright, I’m gonna head back. Call me later, Kara!” Alex said as she pulled her sister into a bone crushing hug.

“Good luck at this place. I hope I’ll see you sooner rather than later,” she said as she broke the hug and turned to go back to her car.

“I’ll call, promise. Love you!” Kara called after her. She watched as Alex left the place, and she was standing alone with Nia. The silence stretched between them. Nia was obviously thinking about something, but before Kara could ask about it, Nia shook her head slightly and gave her a big smile.

“That’s a wonderful sister you’ve got there. You’re lucky.”

“Yeah, I really am,” Kara nodded in agreement.

In the beginning, when Kara was first adopted by the Danvers family, she and Alex couldn’t stand each other. They had been fighting non-stop. It wasn’t until Alex had been forced to drag Kara along to the stables where she was riding that they had started to bond. Alex had started out by letting Kara groom her horse for her. She remembered that horse still. It was a cute, bay mare named Bella. She wasn’t much of a looker, but she was steady and patient.

And thus, Alex and Kara’s relationship started growing, and Kara’s love and devotion for horses had started and was still growing to this day.

“So… I know you’ve been dying to meet the horses, so let’s get to it!”

\-----

For now, there were three stables at the place. They were planning to expand with time, but hadn’t gotten around to it yet, Nia explained. Each stable had ten boxes in them, five on each side of the aisle. There was a washing area, as well as an area to groom and tack up horses. They had sun lamps in them, just to add to the whole luxury theme that clearly was going here.

One of the stables had youngsters both bred by themselves and bought on auctions or gotten in trade deals with other breeders, the other one was older horses that was currently competing at the highest levels and the last one had “a little bit of everything” as Nia put it.

In the little bit of everything stable there were three horses that was classified as “late bloomers”. They had yet to prove themselves in the ring, but they had either too much potential or a pedigree worth so much that they wanted to keep them to see where things went before selling and potentially lose money, or use them for breeding purposes.

Four horses that were injured and in rehabilitation.

One that technically should be in the youngsters stable but didn’t fit with the other ones and got stressed by staying there. So, Nia had suggested to put him with the others in this stable to see if that would work. They had been lucky, and he had been enjoying this stable so far.

There was one empty stable that was for Zora, and then the last horse caught Kara’s eye.

She could immediately see that this was no jumper. It was bulkier than all the other horses. Taller too. All in all, it was a massive thing, but at the same time so elegant there was no doubt it was a sports horse of some kind. The beautiful, black coat shone like it was its own energy source. And the big, brown eyes spoke of intelligence.

“Who’s this beauty?”

Nia came up to the stable and let out a long sigh.

“This is Nautilus. He’s Lena’s dressage champion, they were quite the team back in the days. I’ve never seen her ride him, even here at home, but somehow he’s still here.”

Nia opened the top part of the door so Nautilus could stick his head out to sniff the newcomer. He gladly put his muzzle in Kara’s hands and inhaled wearily.

“She doesn’t let anyone else ride him either, not even Mike. But this guy here enjoys his days in the field. We’re allowed to put him in the walker and the pool, but Cat is the only one who’s allowed to lunge him.”

Kara nodded in acknowledgement but realized she was starting to have her doubts about this Lena Luthor. In her experience, people who were this notorious with who got to handle their horses were very special people who thought incredibly highly of themselves. Most of the times their horses would’ve benefitted from handling and riding by other people too.

Nia must have noticed Kara’s growing annoyance.

“I know it’s not ideal, but it’s not our place to judge. They pay us well, and the treatment we get here is actually very good compared to various other places I’ve been.”

She gave Kara an encouraging smile before she nodded towards the door.

“Should we go to the staff hangout spot? And I can show you where you’ll be living! I have totally forgotten about that. Your stuff should be there already, just waiting for you to unpack.”

\----

They had walked out of the stables and were heading towards an area towards the forest that had a ridiculous number of cabins scattered out. Nia went for one of the bigger ones and held the door for Kara.

“This is the staff room. We’ll meet here every morning at 6 am to have our morning meeting with everybody. You can also hang out here if you’ve got time for a break and usually, we gather here in the evenings to socialize,” she said as Kara walked past her into the room while muttering a ‘thank you’.

Four people were in the seating area, seemingly playing some kind of card game.

“That’s cheating!” one of the guys said loudly as they walked towards them.

“Is Brainy crushing you at poker again, Winn?” Nia laughed at the guy who was now on his feet – Winn apparently.

Everyone went silent when they realized Nia and Kara were there too, and they all looked happy to meet a new person.

“Kara Danvers meet the cavalry of Luthor Stables! Say hello to Kara everyone.”

The oldest man held out his hand for Kara to shake.

“It’s delightful to finally meet you, Ms. Danvers. I’m J’onn J’onzz, the stable head at this place.”

“Nice to meet you, J’onn. I can’t wait to get started here. This is truly an amazing place you’re running,” Kara said as she shook his hand.

“We just call him stable dad around here. He makes sure everyone is happy and follows protocol around the place. Hi, I’m Winn Schott by the way,” the guy who had just made a small scene about the card game pulled Kara in for a hug she wasn’t expecting.

“I have been so excited to work with you since Cat announced you were hired here. I’ve been following you since you basically cleared the table in Metropolis three years ago.”

Metropolis three years ago, yeah. That had been Kara’s big break. She hadn’t been riding for anyone at that time but had been competing on her own beloved Zora. After years of hard training it had finally paid off, and she and Zora had won every single class they had entered that weekend. That was no small feat. The competition was always as hard as you could get it in Metropolis.

After they had finished Kara had been approached by Andrea Rojas. She knew her sister worked for her but had never really thought of asking to work there too. But when Andrea had talked to her about how she admired her riding and could see that Kara was one to go places it hadn’t taken much convincing to agree. That had started a whole new adventure for Kara and Zora, which in the end had gotten them to where they were now.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you, Winn,” Kara said with a grin after they pulled apart.

“Let me in on this too,” the tallest man in the room wrapped Kara in a hug too. If there was anything to take from meeting these people, it was that they were all extremely fond of hugging.

“My name is James. You probably already know my sister, Kelly? She works over at the Rojas place.”

“I do! She is such a delight to work with. And I think she may also have a thing going with my sister.”

James didn’t look at all surprised by this and chuckled.

“I hope your sister is treating her right, or else I’ll have to deal with her myself. And to deal with the sister of the one and only Kara Danvers is something I had hoped to never do,” he said with a playful twinkle in his eye.

“From what I learned about Kelly at my time over there is that she is not one to mess with. She’ll manage to kick Alex’s ass perfectly fine on her own.”

“Sounds like Kelly to me,” James finished with a grin.

“So, you must be Brainy I assume?” Kara turned to the last guy who politely took Kara’s hand.

After the pleasantries were exchanged, they all sat down in the couch area at Nia’s request.

“Cat is the only one who’s not living here. She drives in every morning and lives somewhere closer to the heart of the city,” Nia explained when they got to the topic of the trainer.

“I have heard a lot about her. How is she like to ride for?” Kara addressed Nia for this, seeing as Nia was the only one of the workers who also rode horses. She didn’t compete but did flatwork and kept the horses fit in different ways.

“Strict. Unforgiving. Extremely harsh. If you ever tell me you get a compliment out of that lady, I’d say you were thrown off the horse and hit your head really bad,” Nia responded with a laugh.

“Yeah, that’s about exactly the impression I’ve gotten from picking up some information here and there too.”

“Don’t be worried. She might be a bit of a dragon, but she’s professional and great at her job. If there’s any talent to pull out of someone, she’s the one for the job,” Nia answered and started to shuffle the cards.

“How about a round of crazy eights?”

\-----

It turned out Kara was a natural at whatever card game they threw at her.

“Take it easy on us, girl,” James commented after Kara had crushed them all for the nth time.

“Yeah, with skills like these you could give the Luthor a run for her money,” it came from Winn who had just lost to all of them.

“Winn!” Nia slapped his arm and gave him a pointed stare.

Everyone went quiet. Kara gave them all a confused look.

“Are you trying to tell me that Lillian indulges in card games with her employees? I might have gotten the wrong impression of her,” Kara asked with a chuckle.

“Not Lillian. Lena. She… She used to come in here for a game of cards from time to time. It was a long time ago when Sam was still working here. After Sam left, she would still come to see us, but it got longer and longer between each time. When she got engaged to Mike, she stopped meeting us at all. The only time we see her is when she’s passing by,” Nia finally said.

The others were staring at anything but each other or Kara. It felt weird, the whole situation. Sure, Kara had become somewhat close to Sam while she was working at Rojas Stables. She didn’t know the older woman had previously worked at Luthor Stables though. Sam had already been working for Andrea when Kara started there, about two and a half years ago. She wondered what had Sam change fields, or even more mysterious, why Lena had stopped seeing her friends.

“When did she get engaged to Mike?”

Kara knew it wasn’t technically any of her business, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit curious about her new boss’ life.

“It must be about two years ago now. I don’t know why they haven’t had the wedding yet. We haven’t heard anything about when the wedding is going to be either. Just gotta be patient I guess,” Nia answered.

“I’m telling you guys there is something weird going on up in that palace,” Winn said.

J’onn cleared his throat.

“What’s going on and what’s not in the mansion is none of our business. We let them live their lives, and we take care of the horses. We shouldn’t forget our place here, people.”

Kara received a reassuring smile that she returned with a nod.

“Don’t think too hard about it, Kara. You won’t even see Lena. Mike on the other hand likes to show his face here, but he shouldn’t give you any troubles as long as you remember you’re working for him and not the other way around,” Nia said.

“I think I’m starting to feel a bit tired guys. Could you show me where I’m sleeping before I go check on Zora, Nia?”

“Sure thing! You shouldn’t stay up too late either. Don’t forget we’re meeting at 6 sharp here in the morning. Cat hates it if anyone is late,” Nia said as she showed the way towards the door.

“We know, we know,” Winn said with a grin.

“And somehow _someone_ almost always manage to be five minutes late to our morning meeting.”

They made their way towards one of the cabins nearby. They stopped by number 33, where Nia turned to Kara and handed her a key.

“This one’s yours. Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave. And try to not lose the key.”

“I won’t. Thank you, Nia, for everything. I can’t wait to start working with you guys. You seem like a good gang of people,” Kara said and leaned in for a farewell hug.

Nia wrapped her arms around Kara and gave her a little squeeze.

“It has been a pleasure so far. They really are good people, all of them.” She let go of Kara and turned to leave.

“Good night, Kara,” she said before starting to walk away.

“Good night!”

The cabin was definitely not what Kara had expected. There was an open kitchen solution on the main floor and a spacious living room with a massive television.

The bathroom on the second floor was almost the size of her old bedroom at Rojas Stables. Andrea didn’t exactly lack money herself, but it seemed she spent it all on the horses instead of a luxury living space for her employees as well.

The bedroom was connected to the bathroom and even had space for a king-sized bed.

Kara didn’t even bother start unpacking her stuff that had been placed in the living room. She could find what she needed to get ready for bed and wearing tomorrow. The rest she could fix after work the following day. It was getting late, and Kara desperately wanted to say good night to her horse before calling it a night.

\--------

Soft voices met Kara as she opened the door to the barn. She snuck inside, closing the door after her and making her way towards Zora as quietly as possible.

Kara had just reached Zora’s stable when a sharp voice called out.

“What are you doing, sneaking up on people like that?”

Kara stopped dead in her tracks and turned towards Nautilus’ stable where a dark figure was emerging from.

“Oh… Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, I just wanted to – “

“You didn’t.”

As the woman stepped out to the faint light from the night lamps in the stable, Kara realized she was face to face with the one and only Lena Luthor. She should have figured, seeing as Lena was probably the only person in the world who would be allowed inside Nautilus’ stable at this time of the night.

Still, Kara couldn’t help but notice how closed off the dark-haired woman looked. Her face showed no signs of emotion. If Kara hadn’t heard the talking when she entered the stables, she never would have guessed that the soft and calming voice belonged to Lena.

Despite this, there was an unmistakable attractiveness in the way the woman held herself together. Her outfit looked like nothing you would normally wear to a stable. A perfectly tailored suit paired with the highest heels Kara had ever seen in her life.

She let her gaze wander from the heels, taking in what was in front of her. Kara found herself thinking that despite Lena having quit riding, she kept herself in shape with a figure like that. Just look at her ass. No, wait. That was wrong. No thinking about Lena Luthor’s ass. _She’s your boss, Kara. Get it together._

Kara felt herself blushing and took a deep breath before meeting Lena’s gaze. _Why does she have the most beautif – No, Kara! Words. Use them._

“What’s the problem then?”

Uh oh. Wrong question. Lena folded her arms across her chest and raised her chin ever so slightly.

“The problem, Miss Danvers – “ _Great. She knows who I am already._ “– Is that I do not want to be disturbed when I am trying to get some peace and quiet.”

Kara wanted to make a comment about hot the barn surely was big enough for the both of them but found it better to keep quiet for the time being. Good choice, because Lena wasn’t done lecturing her yet.

“You should know that I could have you thrown out of here in less than a minute,” Lena said with a tone to her voice that mad it clear she was not messing about.

But Kara being her ‘talk first, think later’ kind of person, couldn’t help herself.

“You wouldn’t do that. You need me here. I am the best person for the job of getting your horses to the top.”

And Kara found herself a bit surprised by her own words. She knew she was one of the better riders in the country. She knew what her abilities were, and that the only reason she hadn’t competed in the Olympics yet was because she didn’t have the money. Still, she was a damn good rider, and she wouldn’t let Lena chuck her out on her first day because she was in a foul mood.

She could see how Lena stared at her with a smirk playing on lips. Looker her up and down before settling for eye contact. A gentle arch of her eyebrow before opening her mouth.

“The graveyard is filled with indispensable people, Miss Danvers. You should not forget that.”

With that, Lena Luthor turned on her heel and walked swiftly out of the barn.


End file.
